In the Country of My Dreams (Paperback)

Review
"Dreaming with eyes and all other senses wide open, this queenly poet guides us -- step by step, breath by breath, line by line -- through not one, but many quivering countries and city-states of mind. Few younger writers know their way around the human heart -- with its beaches, backroads, main drags and wilderness -- as intimately as Elmaz Abinader." -- Al Young

"Elmaz Abinader is a stunning writer. She's like a super-recharge battery that ignites everything it touches. Everyone should know her work!" -- Naomi Shihab Nye

"Elmaz Abinader's In the Country of My Dreams redeems the achievements of a century that has struggled long and hard with tolerance and inclusion. Daughter of immigrants from Lebanon, she sings of their birthplace that she too claims as her own, and of the American landscape she reverently loves and calls home. I salute the arrival of these poems and their author for their expansive compassion and their delicate enduring tenderness." -- Khaled Mattawa

Product Description
Long awaited collection of poetry from Arab-American author, Elmaz Abinader, once again reveals with no light touch, the beauty and brutality of the world of her family, her country, and her culture. Taking on excile, abuse, love and displacement, Abinader lyrically portrays a life battling the confines of ethnic stereotypes and geographic domination, inside her country and her heart.

About the Author
Elmaz Abinader is an Arab\American author, poet and performance artist. Her book Children of the Roojme: A Family's Journey from Lebanon has been recently released in paperback (University of Wisconsin Press). Her storytelling performance, Country of Origin has been touring the United States and the Middle East for the last year. She is also working on a novel, Women from the Occupied Territories and a book of travel essays, Ramadan Moon. Elmaz teaches at Mills College and lives in Oakland, CA.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"For many years I traveled/ through chalky streets/ of hot countries. Women passed me,/ keeping their dark eyes inward./ Their bodies were strong with babies/ wrapped against their chests/ with fringed shawls. I wanted/ something from them."